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National Express Group: Jumping Onboard the Stagecoach?

School bus personnel at the second largest school bus contractor in North America must be feeling schizophrenic. Since June, nearly every morning they prepare for work, they have had serious questions as to whom they'll be reporting to by day's end.

Soon, it may be superiors at Stagecoach Group plc.

With a consortium led by majority stakeholder the Cosmen family of Spain having retracted its interest in National Express Group plc, UK competitor Stagecoach has now stepped up as a sole pursuer of company that holds Durham School Services in the United States and Stock Transportation in Canada after a consortium led by National Express' largest shareholder has walked away from the table.

However, what might happen to the school bus business remains to be seen. In fact, a lot remains to be seen. There's been nary a mention of National Express' lucrative school transportation holdings in North America, which are operated by National Express Corporation. And its employees know little more than what was announced in a company memo issued on Sept. 11 by Brian Stock, president and CEO of National Express Corp., that basically gave employees background information on the Cosmen family, which has 11 generations worth of experience in the transportation business dating back to 1728.

It’s been a long and winding road for the company over the past five months. First, FirstGroup plc, the parent company of First Student, made an informal inquiry into purchasing the business after National Express walked away from a lucrative UK east coast rail contract amid cashflow troubles, its stock plunged and its CEO departed. After FirstGroup said it was no longer interested, Jorge Cosmen, the leader of the Spanish transportation mogul family and the 18.5 percent majority stockholder on the National Express board, joined forces with consulting firm CVC Capital Parnters with the designs of a takeover. Different offers resulted, and even Stagecoach was brought into the fray. And now, Stagecoach is the only company still in the running. But it still remains very much up in the air if National Express will be purchased.

The Cosmens’ consortium announced late last week it was no longer interested in pursuing the deal. In a statement made yesterday, the company said it is still exploring the possibility of raising private capital rather than moving on with a sale, though the board “will carefully consider the Stagecoach Proposal whilst continuing to progress its equity funding plans in order to assess whether the Stagecoach Proposal offers greater value and certainty to NEC shareholders.”

According to Bloomberg News, Stagecoach is offering £1.7 billion, or $2.8 billion. As a result, National Express’ stock price gained 11 percent on the London Stock Exchange. But its share price is still down about 60 percent from highs last October.

No Shortage of Drivers? Tell That to These Schools

I've heard from transportation directors across the country that one silver lining to the current economy is that it has reversed a trend toward driver shortages, a problem that has historically plagued the industry.

Lack of pay and guaranteed hours has often been a culprit, especially when others with their commercial driver's license can receive more pay with less responsibility at transit agencies and private trucking firms. But over the past year, with unemployment running rampant, school tranportation personnel have told me on the phone and in person that they finally have enough employees to fill all the driver seats. Yet, a different story is coming out of Arkansas, according to the Couriernews.com.

Reporter Cindi Nobles writes about the Atkins and Russellville school districts in the northwest part of the state that say they are experiencing continued problems finding drivers.

Russellville School District transportation director Jim Dickerson said he has received many phone calls in which individuals indicated interest in the job, but not many actual applicants.

“I’ve had a lot of guys calling, saying, ‘Hey man, you got any openings?’” Dickerson said. “Of course, we always do, but nobody actually comes in here and fills out an application.”

Mike Simmons, the senior transportation manager at the Arkansas Department of Education, said that he has also heard some school districts complain about a lack of drivers in this economic environment, mostly from more rural areas where the pool of potential drivers is much smaller to begin with.

"In some districts, and nobody's got an overabundance of driver,s but no one is really hurting. And then i have other districts where the transportation director has to drive just about everyday," he said.

Apparently, add continued driver shortages to the problems rural districts have with the skyrocketing costs of transporting children many more miles than their more urban counterparts.

A Special 60K: Grant Funds Come in Different Shapes and Sizes for School Transportation

By Ryan Gray

While not for yellow bus service, a Michigan middle school is using some of a large pot of grant money bestowed by the foundation named for the founder of Kellogg's cereals to fund a new computer lab that will assist students in purchasing transit bus passes. I know what many of you might be saying: "Well, it sure would be nice if the district's school transportation received its share." I don't portend to know the answer, but I would respond, "Did it even try?"

It's cliched, but you definitely don't get what you don't ask for. It's true in love, in life and certainly school transportation. Gardner Middle School in Lansing apparently asked and received, as it was awarded $60,000 for the computer lab through the end of next school year. In addition to enabling students to buy passes from the Capital Area Transportation Authority, the grant also includes an after-school snack program, stipends for two teachers and two student scholarships.

As you are likely well aware, school transportation is vital to getting children in their classroom seat, and, if successful, schools stand to gain dearly. Attendance is tied to adequate yearly progress, and all states are watching carefully especially in these lean economic times. It just so happens that last month Lansing School District announced that 31 of its 33 schools earned AYP recognition from the state department of education.

It wasn't immediately known what role, if any, Lansing's school transportation department had in administering the funds. Here's hoping it had a say. Just like with the federal Safe Routes to School Program, there is plenty of money that in one way or another can benefit school transportation coffers, that is if you just know where to look for it and can connect the dots back to your department. Decisions on how to use the money should incorporate the feedback of the experts in how to safely and efficiently move children from home to school and back each day.

Driver in Fatal Idaho Motorcoach Accident also SB Driver

District said not to be aware of her other job but adds, 'This is not uncommon'

By Lisa Hudson

Officials for the Nebo, Utah, school district confirmed on Oct. 13 that the motorcoach driver involved in the fatal rollover accident on days previously in Idaho has been employed with their district since January 2003.

According to a report from the Desert News, Debra Jarvis, who was operating a charter for Lake Shore Motor Coach Lines, was driving members of the American Fork High School Marching Band back from a competition earlier in the day when she apparently "blacked out for unknown reasons." The bus veered off I-15 and rolled over, partially ejecting Heather Christensen, a band instructor, who had tried to grab the wheel and take control of the bus. Christensen died at the scene from her injuries.

The newspaper also reported that district official said Jarvis has "an excellent driving record" with the district and recently passed a physical.

District spokesperson Lana Hiskey acknowledged that they were not aware of Jarvis' employment with Lake Shore but also indicated, "Many of our employees have more than one job."

The situation raises not only the question of Jarvis' hours of service, which the motorcoach company is bound by federal law to ensure that drivers don't exceed, but also an interesting HR question: do you know which, if any of your employees hold jobs in addition to their school transportation one, and do you know what they are?

Are there compelling reasons why you should or perhaps rules/policies that say you can't? We want to hear from you—what records, if any, are kept for your district or operation?

Why or why not?

A Rare and Unnerving School Bus Stop

Leave it to a school bus driver to take initiative when a child is in danger.

Last week, Valerie Flanagan thought an animal in the road was the reason for slowing, swerving traffic as she drove her Garden Grove (Calif.) Unified School District bus back to the depot following her morning route. As reported on KTLA News on Oct. 8, the 23-year veteran driver said at least eight cars swerved in front of her before she realized why: a 4-year-old child was wandering in the far right lane.

Flanagan pulled over her bus, set the warning lights and left the bus (no children were inside at the time) to try and retrieve the child. She said she didn’t want to chase after the boy in fear he would run into oncoming traffic. So she knelt on the side of the road way and persuaded him to come to her. She then picked him up and took him to the bus.

Meanwhile, as can only happen in Southern California (and few other choice places), motorists honked and yelled profanities at Flanagan because she was blocking the road. A local police spokesman said the child had apparently wandered off from a courtyard area at the nearby Westminster civic center, and his mother was frantically searching for him.

Flanagan said she didn’t feel like a hero and never hesitated before doing what she says she believes anyone else would have done. Especially another school bus driver.

Budget Pains Continue for Transportation for Seattle

As if the economy hasn’t hit school transportation coffers hard enough this year, the news outlets reported last week that 10,000 students in the Seattle, Bellevue, Washington and Lake Mercer school districts could see their mass transit passes affected by 33 percent fare increases from the King County metro system.

Does such a move make sense in today’s economy?

The state has been working for a couple of years on reformulating school transportation funding. The article says state officials are hoping to be able to fully fund their service “and make cost increases like this disappear — but when that will happen is uncertain.

It’s an interesting move from the transit provider despite tens of billions of dollars in stimulus funds this year. But, more and more mass transit systems are turning to fare hikes to curb their own budget deficits caused by rising unemployment. There have been comments for a while now that mass transit should be doing the opposite, namely lowering fares to provide relief to those struggling financially. As a result, ridership could skyrocket.

Let’s Go for a Walk

By Ryan Gray

Wednesday marked National Walk to School Day, an initiative promoted by the National Center for Safe Routes to School. More than 3,000 schools in all 50 states and the District of Columbia participated, and 40 countries including the United States are recognizing October as National Walk to School Month.

The key here is walking “safe.”

Students on the south side of Chicago made headlines last month after a 16-year-old, innocent bystander honor student was killed during a gang fight outside his high school as he walked to the school bus stop. Just this week shows were all over the topic of increases school violence, such as CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360 that broadcast this week from the Windy City. Meanwhile, other media outlets have been questioning how safe it is for kids to walk to school, especially as shrinking school budgets and reduced or eliminated bus routes have made this a necessity. Look no further than on the U.S. News & World Report Web site.

Blogger Nancy Shute describes a mile-long walk she, her daughter and another student took this week to the local elementary school. She called it “a glorious way to start the day, far better than the usual rush to the bus stop.”

But, as Shute points out, fewer and fewer kids are walking to and from school compared to years, decades past. That’s the topic of a new book, “Range Kids: Giving Our Children the Freedom We Had Without Going Nuts with Worry,” by Lenore Skenazy, the New York mother who made headlines last year for allowing her then 9-year-old soon to ride the subway and transit bus to school by himself. In a New York Times article last month, she called walking to school a political act. And, indeed it has become that, when you consider the Federal Highway Administration is behind Safe Routes to School.

But it remains controversial, not just with parents due to highly publicized school bus stop abductions, like the whole Jaycee Dugard case of this summer, but also in school district transportation operations. There still are rumblings that this Safe Routes federal program should proves there could be money for school bus transportation, which is the safest way for kids to be driven to and from school. But there’s obviously also the physical fitness standpoint to be considered, as only about 13 percent of kids today walk or bike to school compared to more than 41 percent 40 years ago. The Journal of the American Planning Association recently studied parents in San Francisco who drove their 10- to 14-year olds to school and found that half wouldn’t allow their kids to walk to school without supervision, 30 percent of whom said that fear of strangers guided their decision.

We talked about this before, but this month is as good as any to bring it up once again: schools have the perfect entry point into directing and managing wide scale walking programs, especially as there’s federal money to gain. Increasingly, more and more school district transportation departments getting on board. It’s a way to promote healthier lifestyles in children, and what better way to be environmentally green? Not to say that school buses don’t still have their place in helping kids get in education by providing a ride to and from school, and the same goes for transit when done safely — I seriously question those who think a 9-year-old can be safe on an inner city bus ride, or, as was recently the case in Maryland, a 6-year-old!

But especially in this economic climate, schools need all the resources they can get. And in doing so, the kids can actually stop and smell the roses.

Tell us if your school has a story from National Walk to School Week or has any particular plans for recognizing National Walk to School Month.

Parental Involvement: Wouldn't it Be Nice?

The National PTO wrote about parent involvement in their child's education on its blog yesterday. In doing so, it recognized Minnesota, one of the few states that celebrates the role parents play in school. It's apropos, after all, as October is parental involvement month. PTO even has a parent involvement toolkit.

But, the PTO asks, why aren't more states following Minnesota's lead?

Parents can be a forgotten, underestimated group in school transportation operations - that is until something goes wrong. Understandably, pupil transporters concentrate on the needs of the children they serve, and some have a lot of special needs, especially those with disabilities. Parent outreach is vital when it comes to IEP meetings in which transportation service is a necessary component. Some schools here and there make the school bus part of back to school night, or bus driver are assigned or take it upon themselves to visit parents of the students riding their bus to talk about a variety of topics from bus stops to home life. Plus, it can be cool just to say hi and introduce themselves.

Meanwhile, Head Start relies heavily on parents. The majority of the more than 200,000 workers at and for Head Start agencies are local volunteers, many of them the parents of the children who partake in the federal program. It's so important of a topic that the National Head Start Association each December holds a special parent training conference.

What is your school district doing to reach out to parents? Is there a shortage of parents stepping up to the plate to make sure transportation service is all it could be? This month provides an excellent opportunity to question how parents are involved in the transportation decisions that affect their children. After all, they are the true customers. The tax paying ones.

Musing about Monitors

By Peggy Burns, Esq.

There has been a spate of recent legal decisions and media headlines that have made me think about the relationship between drivers and paraprofessionals on school transportation vehicles. I’m using the word “paraprofessional” to suggest a broad range of job titles – like monitors, attendants, aides, escorts. I’m less concerned about what they’re called, or even their specific duties, than I am about their own expectations about their roles, and what you’ve communicated to them and to drivers about the interaction between these two categories of individuals.

Typically, the bus driver is the “captain” of the bus. What do we expect of a paraprofessional if he or she becomes aware that the driver is doing something wrong? And, for that matter, what do we expect of the driver in the face of unacceptable conduct by the paraprofessional? Have you really identified the relationship between the two and empowered each to take action when necessary to prevent harm to students?

Do paraprofessionals and drivers have the information about likely needs of students on the bus that will help them anticipate the opportunities and methods by which they must keep the students safe? That’s your responsibility, and that of your district and/or company.

Your employees must take reasonable action under a wide variety of circumstances. At a minimum, your staff members must speak up and question potentially aberrant behavior. At a minimum, they must do what they can reasonably do to intervene in the face of likely harm. That’s true even though they may not have the ability to actually stop the harm from occurring, and may not be expected to do so.

And, of course, both paraprofessionals and drivers should have the means to report – and use those measures to report – to dispatch and/or the authorities when any number of situations occur on the bus. Regardless of what entity owns the vehicle, and what entity employs the paraprofessional and the driver, both need to have access to communication equipment be trained to use it.

I haven’t thought much about this before. Maybe you haven’t either. But take my word for it: the courts and media are paying sudden attention to these issues; we’d better too.

Peggy Burns is an attorney and consultant, and owner of Education Compliance Group, Inc. She is the editor of Legal Routes, and developer of four video training programs, “The Road to Compliance for Special Needs Drivers,"“Putting the Brakes on Harassment: Training for School Bus Drivers," “Steering Clear of Liability: Training for School Bus Drivers," and “Confidential Records: Training for School Bus Drivers.” Peggy can be reached at (888) 604-6141, and by email to ecginc@qwestoffice.net.